A while back we got to talk to Amber Pacific about their new album, their upcoming tour plans and even their runner up album titles. Check out what all the fuss is about after the cut!

So the new album is finally out. Has it been a long time in the making and what does it feel like to know it’s finally out there?

It’s a huge relief really; it was a long time we’ve been gone for quite a while and going through all the changes we were going through.  It was a really big weight lifted off our shoulders after we got it done and put out, it was very nice!

Tell me about it. What are some tracks that you would highlight as favorites?
Yeah, my favorite track on the entire record is probably the last track; it’s called ‘Forever.’ The song was actually written for my grandfather who passed away in January while we were in the studio, so it was kind of a last minute song that I put together.  But it all worked out and it ended up being my favorite on the record and probably one of my favorite Amber Pacific songs I’ve ever written.

Now that the album is out, what’s next?

Now that we have the record out we definitely want to get back out on the road and support it.  That is our main goal and plan is to stay out and tour as much as possible for the rest of the year.  We want to be out there every day if we can.  We’re doing our best to make that work, right now we have a couple headlining tours planned in May, June , July and August and after that hopefully we get a nice supporting slot in the fall for someone bigger which would be nice.

Can you share any specifics of the tour plans?

In May we are going out with Runner Runner on a little tour about 3 weeks long and kinda hit some of the smaller markets just to kind of get back into the swing of things.  June and July we’ll be going through all the major markets in the US with Halifax, Life on Repeat and City Lights.  August is still kinda up in the air so I don’t know if I can really say much about that, we’re working on that one right now.

Can you pinpoint some of the biggest differences between Virtues and The Possibility and the Promise?

Obviously having a new singer is going to be a big change for us.  Our old singer Matt was great; he was a little bit limited when it came to ability as far as range and things like that.  Jesse brings in that element that we never had before so I got to expand as a songwriter and write some songs in some keys that I’ve been dying to do and I hadn’t been able to with Matt in the past.  That’s a huge change and we’ve been able to create a little bit of a revamped sound of the band by doing that, I think it’s kind of neat.

What do you think you would be doing if you weren’t making music?

I would probably be going to school right now.  I started college right before the band started and I got 2 quarters in there so I’d probably have to go back and wrap that up.  After that I don’t know…I really haven’t thought about that too much.  Hopefully the band works out and I can just write songs and do what I love…in an ideal world!

What do you think are some of the biggest problems in the music industry?

The style of music has changed over the years since we started to what it is now.  Bands like New Found Glory, Jimmy Eat World and The Starting Line were really big influences around the time that we started.  That kind of died out and moved to something a little bit different nowadays where it’s more kinda of dance-y sounding things and songs about having a good time which is great because it seems like kids are really holding on to that and having a good time with it.  It’s a different world right now then when we came into it but hopefully there’s still a small window for us and we can still write the songs we like to play live and hopefully the kids can still connect to some of those.

Do you think there’s anything that sets you apart from other artists?
There are a lot of things that set us apart from the popular artists these days now.  I think back then we could have been easily compared to the bands I mentioned before.  I wouldn’t compare us to any of the popular bands out there right now just because of the sound we have going on, it’s unique and it’s not your typical pop voice that you would here with bands like All Time Low or The Maine, bands like that; they’re great bands we get along with them really well but we wanted to be able to branch out and not be stuck in one genre and hope that it works out, it might not but you never know, you just do what you can.

What bands would be on your dream tour?

I would say Blink 182, Green Day, us and maybe Simple Plan.  Those were some of the biggest influences on us and they would have to be on there.

Where did the album name Virtues come from?

I had come up with a list of about 175 different record titles and I called all the guys over to my house to go over them and pick one cause we didn’t really have much time to work with.  Out of all of those titles, the only one everyone agreed on was Virtues and everything else one or two people would like [a name] but not the whole band could decide.  That was the name we ended up going with and we felt that it kind of encompassed what Amber Pacific was all about, it kind of just fit and felt right and you have to go with those vibes if it feels right.

Were there any close runner ups?

Yes, I think the other one that we might have gone with was Reason or Meanings but it just didn’t quite seem right to us.

How would you sum up what your band and music stand for?
We’re always trying to send out a positive message and music is a huge platform to get your word out and things you want to say.  A lot of people listen to it and so all of us from the start have tried to be a positive band and make songs with positive messages, really write songs that people can relate to.  Music is used to get through times that maybe aren’t so easy in life and that’s kind of always what we’ve been kind of trying to do and that won’t ever change, we’ll always do that.  I would say that sending a positive message is a really important part of Amber Pacific.

Would you recommend any smaller or local bands that you think should be heard?
I haven’t really been able to focus too much on that, I’m kind of wrapped up in what we’re doing right now…we do have a couple good friends around the area, there’s a band called Moneta that some people might be into, they’ve got some really good things going on vocally right now that are really cool and we’ve been friends with those guys for a long time.  I would say check them out if you can!

Would you spend the rest of your life like this if you could?
Absolutely! I love what I do, I love it a lot and even if it’s not playing in a band somewhere I always want to be involved in the music industry somehow even if it’s just being a songwriter or anything like that, I think that that would be what I want to do with my life, it’s what I love and what I’m passionate about so I hope that it works out that way and that I’m fortunate enough to do that!